In Paul Finebaum's mind, it's an urgent do-or-die for the Sooners' head football coach Brent Venables in the 2025 season. Given Venables' consistently disappointing record in Norman, the SEC analyst wouldn't expect things to pan out for Oklahoma any better in 2025.
"If he can't turn this thing around pretty quickly, I don't think he's going to have much hope," Finebaum said on The Paul Finebaum Show.
"He needs a big season because he's had two bad seasons out of three. I wouldn't press my luck with another one."
Finebaum has fed the "do-or-die" narrative surrounding Venables ever since the start of the off-season. The same narrative that sees Venables's job on an obvious hot seat if the 2025 season doesn't yield a winning record.
Or at least, hope to be better than last season's 6-7 record.
"It would be a surprise. The over-and-under win/loss is 6.5," Finebaum added, not expecting much from the squad.
The season that could still be turned around now that the Sooners have John Mateer, though. And not to mention, Ben Arbuckle as his OC.
A majority of Venables' gamble lies on the Washington State QB-OC tandem working out this season. The downside is most of his previous offensive squad returns in 2025.
That might be why the Oklahoma head coach spent big on bringing Arbuckle to his squad: to be his silver lining.
If the offensive unit still fails to protect Mateer, the Sooners fans might as well pack Venables' bags themselves.